Table 2 Overview of the top ten most important environmental variables for the White Hake and Silver Hake (Merluccius bilinearis) models, in order of their % increase in mean decrease accuracy value.

Var 1

Copepod ↓

Chl a ↑

MUFA + PUFA ↔ 

Var 2

PUFA ↓

PIC flux ↓

POC flux ↑

Var 3

POC/PN ↔ 

Current speed ↔ 

PN flux ↑

Var 4

Temperature ↔ 

Month ↔ 

Chl a ↔ 

Var 5

Zooplankton ↓

PN flux ↓

Fine-scale sponge density ↓

Var 6

Month ↔ 

POC flux ↓

Zooplankton ↔ 

Var 7

Salinity ↔ 

CaCO₃ flux ↓

Chaetognatha ↔ 

Var 8

POC flux ↔ 

Salinity ↔ 

Sponge biomass ↑

Var 9

Sediment flux ↔ 

Northward current direction

PUFA ↓

Var 10

MUFA ↑

Sediment flux ↓

CaCO₃ flux ↑